Chapter 88: One Wave Has Yet to Subside When Another Rises

The grotesque snake failed to inflict any wound on Shang Lu.

When he had splashed the black dog’s blood, the cleaver in his right hand had already swept toward it.

Now that it was spewing venom, he instantly changed from offense to defense, turning the blade into a wall of flashing steel before him, blocking both the poison and the snake’s lunge.

At the same time, Shang Lu discarded the leather pouch in his left hand, and a wrist-mounted bolt slid from his sleeve.

At such close range, no aim was needed. The instant he lifted his arm, driving it with force and vitality, the bolt shot out like a streak of lightning and nailed itself straight into the snake’s head.

The snake convulsed violently, and the tumorous growth stopped spitting venom.

Seeing this, Shang Lu changed tactics once more and slashed upward with his cleaver.

A dull, wet sound rang out as the blade bit into flesh. Not only did it sever the snake’s head, it also carved away the two strange tumors on its body.

Only then did the two constables, one in front and one behind, finally come to themselves.

At the sight of their companion transformed into a serpent, they shrieked in terror and at last realized something was wrong. Hastily, they swung their cleavers and hacked the snake into several pieces.

“What happened?”

“What’s going on?”

The other constables, unable to see beyond the mist, could only hear the noise. Uneasy and anxious, they called out in alarm, wanting to come closer and see what had occurred.

Shang Lu quickly shouted them down. “Don’t come over. Stay where you are and keep watch. Be careful of the spirits and demons in the fog!”

The two constables who had witnessed everything cried out, still shaken:

“A snake demon disguised itself as one of our brothers and slipped into the ranks. Luckily Constable Shang discovered it and cut it down!”

“Damn it all, it must have been stirring us up just now. We nearly turned on each other.”

The others were startled when they heard this. Though they wanted to come and see for themselves, they could only abandon the idea because of Shang Lu’s order.

Still, this made them understand that the strange fog truly concealed malevolent things, and that Shang Lu had not been exaggerating.

The constables all became fully alert. They watched the surroundings and, at the same time, guarded against the companions beside them, fearing those too might be disguised evil beings.

Soon, they heard the two constables cry out again.

“Even after being cut into several pieces, this snake still isn’t dead?”

“Bad news! It’s trying to grow back together!”

Neither man had ever encountered such an eerie thing before. Seeing the severed body of the snake sprout countless monstrous tendrils, trying to reconnect and regenerate, they were terrified out of their wits.

They hacked wildly, trying to chop the serpent into mincemeat, thinking that would prevent it from merging and reborn.

Shang Lu did not stop them.

Reducing the snake to fragments could not prevent its revival, but it could slow the process.

Using that time, Shang Lu quickly pondered how to kill it for good.

From his previous experience, the rules of the Clouded Blossom Mountain secret realm seemed tied to desire.

If desire could not be satisfied, the evil things within the realm would rage themselves to death.

So what was this tumorous serpent’s desire?

Recalling all the things the snake had done since appearing, Shang Lu formed a suspicion.

He stared coldly at the shattered snake head and body writhing on the ground and snapped, “Your illusion tricks will not work on me. Your provocation is useless against us as well. As long as I am here, you will never drive us to turn on each other!”

Shang Lu had guessed correctly.

The moment he finished speaking, the serpent’s broken segments ceased their writhing.

Yet the tendrils on the severed flesh continued to grow.

Shang Lu guessed the snake was judging his words, determining whether he truly could remain unaffected by illusion and immune to provocation.

The process did not last long.

In only a few breaths, the tumorous serpent reached its conclusion: with Shang Lu present, it truly could not deceive these people or incite internal strife. And it did not possess the power to kill Shang Lu either.

Thus, before the astonished eyes of the two constables, the snake’s remains on the ground, which only moments ago had still been sprouting fleshy tendrils, either burst apart into pools of blood and rotten meat or saw every last tendril wither and decay at once.

Shang Lu, unruffled as ever, took the cleaver and rummaged through the snake’s corpse.

Unfortunately, this monster was not as hard as the giant snake before. After being hacked to pieces by the two constables, its gall bladder, skin, and all the rest had been mangled beyond use.

As for the tumors, once they were chopped apart, a great deal of poison leaked out and tainted the flesh. Shang Lu could not be sure whether it was edible.

Still, he gathered what he could.

Then he ordered the group counted again, and inspected each man one by one.

This time, the number was neither more nor less than it should have been, just right.

Aside from the influence of baleful energy, Shang Lu saw no other sinister aura upon the constables.

This not only let Shang Lu breathe a sigh of relief, but also allowed the constables to set down their own anxious hearts.

He called for everyone to keep close and, under Madam Third’s guidance, began descending the mountain.

After what had just happened, the constables were exceedingly obedient, sticking tightly together for fear of being left behind.

Every so often, Shang Lu would have them count again, both to confirm that no one had fallen behind and to guard against another tumorous serpent slipping into their ranks.

As they walked, Shang Lu suddenly lifted his brows. He had heard movement all around them.

He hurriedly warned the others to stop.

Then the constables too heard strange sounds rising from the thick fog on all sides.

The noises were not only ear-splitting, but numerous, enough to make one’s head throb.

Though the shouts sounded awkward, they were indeed human words: “I’m taller!” “I’m taller!”

“Don’t be afraid! These are a kind of snake that loves to compete in height with people. As long as we can stand taller than them, we can anger them to death!”

Shang Lu loudly taught them what he knew.

To be honest, hearing those cries of “I’m taller!” truly put him at ease.

Compared with the other evil beings, the height-contending snake was among the easier ones to deal with.

And so it proved.

Having received Shang Lu’s guidance, the constables all raised their blades above their heads to outdo the snakes closing in from every side.

This time, perhaps because the cheating was not obvious, especially since no one was balancing a long bamboo pole over their heads, the height-contending snakes did not tangle together and become giant serpents.

They merely rose up to compare themselves with the constables, only to be outmatched almost at once and perish in a fit of rage.

A great swath of snake corpses lay on the ground in an instant.

But Shang Lu had no time to clean the battlefield or gather the spoils.

For he heard a constable let out a pained, miserable cry.

At the same time, he sensed something hurtling straight toward his rear.

A sharp clang rang out.

The thing that had ambushed his backside tore through his trousers, only to be stopped by the iron groin guard worn beneath them.

It was one of those demons that drilled into a man’s rear and gutted him from within.

They had come too.

Shang Lu cursed under his breath and quickly warned the constables to watch their backsides.

At the same time, his left hand drew a hunting knife from his belt, and with a backhand thrust he stabbed behind him.

He could feel that the demon attacking his rear, though blocked by the iron guard, had not given up. It was gnawing furiously, making the metal ring with sharp, repeated clanks.

If left alone, there was no telling whether it might one day bite through the iron guard and burrow into his belly.